Leon Bridges: “Van Morrison is one of my favorite musicians. There are some Van Morrison moments on this album.”

Genre-bending powerhouse Leon Bridges has a glittering resume: Grammy winner; Billions of Spotify streams; Appearance at the White House for Barack Obama; and collaborating with big kahunas like Luke Combs, John Mayer and Kacey Musgraves. At times he sounds as close to Sam Cooke as possible and dresses better than most in the industry – and yet he's a reserved interviewee.

Not hesitantly, I emphasize, in a rude way – he's polite, warm, approachable – but the guy is just shy. I learned this from his record company when they expressed their interest in the intended type of survey. I assure you that we will talk about music, music, music; that it will simply be a conversation between a Texan and an Irishman. And luckily, that's exactly how it works.

Leon is in London ahead of a gig at the Earth Theater in Dalston, an intimate venue in a converted 1930s cinema where I once saw a stunning Mdou Moctar concert promoting his 2021 record Africa victims. Since Leon doesn't know Moctar, I think he's a phenomenal Tuareg musician who plays guitar like Eddie Van Halen. Leon likes the description, he says he likes Tinariwen, the Tuareg collective that pioneered desert blues.

I feel Leon relax a little; We're just two guys talking about music, and when we get into his latest album, Leonhe leans forward and relaxes. The record is Bridges' most personal to date, set in the Texas of his childhood and youth. Current single “Laredo” cruises through the border town after dark, while “Panther City” evokes the mom-and-pop shops and porches of his hometown of Fort Worth.

It's a song about swapping cartridges, playing Nintendo 64, long summer days and the first taste of love. It's the sweet sound of home, right?

“Absolutely,” grins Leon. “Fort Worth, it’s my home. I was born in Atlanta, but my parents moved there when I was a baby. It's a cool city, it's unique. There is a feeling of a small town and a big city. In Texas, they have the Bible Belt, and black culture specifically is about going to church, and we went to church virtually every Sunday.”

Leon pauses and loses his train of thought for a moment. I wonder if he was in the choir and his answer surprises me.

“I never really got into the choir,” Leon replies. “It wasn’t until I got older that I really started to get involved with music. But I always loved music and always loved singing along to my favorite songs growing up.”

Fort Worth is often overshadowed by its big sister, Dallas. When I ask Leon about the difference between the two, he tells me that Dallas is more oriented toward LA and New York, while Fort Worth is “proud of our Western heritage.” It's very slow. The people are the salt of the earth, which is why I love living there. It’s really disconnected from all the chaos and craziness.”

When I ask Leon why Fort Worth is called Panther City, he smiles.

“It goes back to the 19th century,” he explains. “There was a man who had visited Fort Worth from Dallas, and as an insult he said that Fort Worth was so sleepy that you could see a panther lying around on the street. That’s how the nickname came about.”

Leon's home state certainly has an eventful musical history. From the Tejano style of fusion music and the Western swing of Ernest Tubb and Lefty Frizzell; through the early rock'n'roll of Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison; Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson's Outlaw Country; and the Southern blues of Johnny Winter, ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughan – Texas has always been a sonic melting pot.

Let's put it this way: For Leon, the apple didn't fall far from the tree. His second album Good thing channeled funk, disco and jazz and collaborated with psych-funk trio Khruangbin on two EPs. Texas Sun And Texas Moon. 2021 Gold digger soundIt's now a modern R&B soul album, and the current album maintains that trend.

“We have been working on this album since 2018,” says Leon. “I really tried to shake up a lot of these songs or just put them on the back burner because they didn't make sense at the time. But these songs really kept haunting me and my intuition told me that I really needed to reconsider these tunes.”

The initial sessions took place in Nashville, but when Leon looked at the material again, it was decided to go to El Desierto Recording Studio in Mexico City.

“We rethought everything,” he says. “I feel like all of my music has been transparent and honest, but I think I've always found it difficult to be vulnerable in my music. I wanted to give listeners a deeper insight into myself. What I wanted people to take away from this album was to go back to what really matters to them.”

This will definitely be achieved. Childhood memories at “Panther City” extend to the smell of home-cooked gumbo at “Simplify.” “That's What I Love” and “Laredo” evoke the dangers and joys of youth and young manhood. The former takes place on the banks of the Trinity River in Fort Worth, while the latter is set on the legendary Rio Grande and the border town of Laredo.

“I danced in college,” Leon says. “There was a dance competition in Laredo, but I didn't get to experience much of the city. The song is about what would have happened if I had had more time. Greetings to South Texas! We really wanted the sound energy that you get south of the border.”

The Latin influences and downtempo atmosphere of “Laredo” are reminiscent of the topography of the Rio Grande and the cultural mix of cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. I suggest that this is all the most recent record in Leon's catalog.

“It’s an amalgamation of all my projects,” he says. “I went on a journey, started doing the '50s and '60s thing, and it was honest back then. I wanted to evolve and experiment with R&B, and then I worked with Khruangbin, and all of those experiences led to this album. I love it. It’s very organic but still pushes the boundaries.”

Listening to “That’s What I Love,” especially the jazz-soul coda, I could hear Astral weeks-Van Morrison era. I wonder if Leon is a fan?

“Absolutely!” he chuckles. “This is crazy! I mean, my pantheon is Bobby Womack, and Van Morrison is in there, and I would probably put Usher in there. But Van Morrison is one of my favorite musicians. And yes, there are some Van Morrison moments on this album.”

Something else Leon shares with Van's work is the ability to evoke specific places. It's an album that reflects the I-35 from Fort Worth through Waco, Austin and San Antonio, finally ending in Laredo.

“I set out to make this album not knowing exactly what the concept was,” says Leon. “I guess back then it was more about almost hitting a wall creatively. And I thought, “Just write about my home.” And so a lot of the songs seem to have that theme: memories of childhood. And yes, these places and people that really influenced me.”

The middle section of the record contains the instrumental “Teddy's Tune,” which consists solely of acoustic guitar and soothing bird song. I wonder if the title is an interlude to flipping the record from side A to side B.

“Man, yeah,” Leon agrees. “It’s like the pause moment. I love it because there are a lot of little guitar players that I play around with all the time. And when I was in Mexico I was just messing around and played this song and the band was like, “Yo, that's great, let's chase it!” And it's cool that it ended up on the album. I’ve never done anything like this before so it’s special.”

Who is the band?

“It’s a new crew,” says Leon. “Kudos to Ian Fitzchuk, I discovered him through Kasey Musgraves. I was really a fan of the sound of their record and that kind of brought us together. And he supported the crew. He hired Nick Bockrath from Cage The Elephant and Josh Moore – he's Ian's right-hand man.

“Then there was my good friend Conrad, and I also brought my friend Brandon Marcel from Fort Worth. It was cool, we definitely had a brotherhood and a lot of that contributed to making this album great. We brought all of our different talents together.”

Leon is out now.